The Freshman Survival Guide (Revised Edition): Soulful Advice for Studying, Socializing, and Everything In Between

A completely revised and updated values-based guide full of practical tools and advice that students need to navigate the first year of college and get the most out of their experience.

In the twelve years since its initial publication, The Freshman Survival Guide has helped tens of thousands of first year students make a successful transition to college life. However, much has changed on campuses. Culture changes, the ubiquity of social media, and the arrival of "hybrid" or remote learning have all added new layers of complexity to the leap from high school to college. The Freshman Survival Guide's newest updated edition features new research on issues such as mental health, sexual assault, and finding balance. It also features expanded sections on:

• gender and race relations on campus,
• online learning,
• dating,
• and money management.

Of the approximately 2.5 million college freshmen each year, one in three won’t make it to sophomore year. Combining relatable and relevant stories from hundreds of college students and insightful interviews with professors, deans, and other campus and community leaders, The Freshman Survival Guide focuses on how incoming first-year students can prepare themselves for the biggest change they've encountered in their lives: heading off to college.

Nora Bradbury-Haehl has worked with teens and twentysomethings in colleges, churches, camps, and leadership programs for more than twenty-five years, building caring supportive communities for and with young people, and walking with them through the joys and challenges of young adulthood. She writes as a mentor and guide for facing some of life’s most trying times. She’s the author of The Twentysomething Handbook—Everything You Actually Need to Know About Real Life. She’s written for Saint Mary’s Press, BustedHalo.com, Angelus.com, Connection magazine, and Liturgy Training Publications.

Bill McGarvey--an award-winning writer and producer--is the former editor-in-chief of the BustedHalo.com, where The Freshman Survival Guide first appeared. He has written and commented extensively on topics of culture, politics and religion for the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Daily News, The Nation, NPR, BBC, SiriusXM, Salon, Democracy Now, Vatican News, Commonweal, Time Out New York, The Tablet (London) and Factual (Spain).